Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: Sasuke is tired. Sasuke is hungry. Sasuke is...well, hunting, now. Vampire AU, SNS, will be explicit. Two years later...it's done! New chapter will be up every day until the fic is finished!

A/N: Chapter 9 already! It's all going so fast. I know we left the last chapter off on an uncertain note, so I won't leave you hanging for any longer!

Bite Me

Chapter 9: Power

And...that was the last of them.

Iruka sighed, glancing around the room until he found that familiar head of blonde hair. It held a less familiar look, though, with Naruto still sitting on the desk, frowning at the ground…

"Sasuke didn't come this week?" Iruka asked, and Naruto's head jerked up.

"He—I—no. He didn't...no." Naruto swallowed and looked down.

Iruka pulled himself up onto the desk beside him.

Naruto glanced up a little, knuckles white as the gripped the edge of the desk, shoulders tight and stiff—

"I'm okay, dad."

"Sure," Iruka said gently, "but if there's any part of you that isn't, I'm here."

The stiffness lessened, if only the slightest bit.

"We...I…" Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "I dunno."

"Did you have a fight?"

Naruto's lips thinned and he twisted his head to the side, eyebrows furrowed.

"Kind of," he said, and it came out quiet. "I don't…"

"You've tried talking to him?"

Naruto helplessly held up his silent phone.

"He's not replying to anything."

Iruka let out a breath. That—

"But it's not—" Naruto continued quickly, "it's probably fine. It's not his fault or anything—we just—um—"

Naruto heaved in a breath, staring at the wall a moment longer—

"Actually," he continued, sitting up straighter, "we broke up."

Iruka reeled back.

"Did you?" he asked, more out of shock than anything else—if that was the case, he was surprised Naruto was even here. He would have expected him to hole himself up, same as he had when he'd found out his birth parents weren't alive...Iruka dearly hoped he wasn't slowly growing accustomed to all the loss in his life. Maybe it just hadn't fully hit him yet…

There had been a quiet, happy peace to Naruto in these past few weeks, and it was one that he'd yet to see another person replicate. Naruto gave his affection freely and easily, but this—this had been…

Real. Iruka had really thought…

"I'm so sorry," he offered quietly. "Would you like to—"

"No, no, I'm—I'm okay!" Naruto said, waving a hand at him. "It—it's okay. I'm okay with it. I think it's—it's for the best. We're still—I wanna still—do, um, the friends thing."

Hm.

"Okay," he offered softly, "but, Naruto...if it's too painful—"

"It's—it's not! I'll be fine! I—"

"I know you will," Iruka told him. "But will you be happy?"

Naruto breathed out, smiling a little. It suited that face so much better.

"You worry too much, dad. I'll be fine."

Iruka nudged Naruto's leg with his foot.

"If you say so. Want to come home for the night? I'll cook."

And there, finally, was the light glittering back in Naruto's eyes—

"Oh, I dunno," Naruto said, smile widening, "is Kakashi gonna be there?"

Iruka's face burned.

"I'm going to ground you."

But Naruto only laughed, and Iruka found himself smiling, too—feeling like any bit of embarrassment was worth seeing that smile back on his son's face.

Sasuke...didn't leave the apartment until sundown every night that week.

It was a cheap move. An easy tactic to avoid any consequence or confrontation—as easy as ignoring the texts that Naruto had sent.

Just as unpleasant, too.

Sasuke let out a breath and shoved the guilt back down, tossing his phone back onto his dirty, makeshift bed. They'd cancelled his shift tonight. Sasuke didn't know why. His apartment felt even more depressing tonight than the day he'd bought it, when he'd given in to the reality that this was how he had to live. Windowless, dark, isolated.

Alone.

He hadn't lived like that for the past few months. It had felt like a dream.

Sasuke put his face into his hands, rubbing at his tired eyes as the thunder crashed outside.

It had been a dream. He'd been so wonderfully distracted, he'd completely lost himself. Beyond Naruto being so outrageously beyond anything Sasuke could ever possibly have, beyond him taking every opportunity to reassure Sasuke that his feelings were completely platonic, beyond Sasuke having no memory of love or sexuality or anything that could usefully explain any of the tumbling whirlwind in his head—

Sasuke was dangerous.

These feelings were dangerous. His insane need to be close to Naruto was putting him directly in harm's way, and if Sasuke didn't figure out a way to fix it soon, he was going to wind up dead—

Or worse.

It was a terrifying thought—that he might accidentally turn Naruto. He hadn't even thought it before the mark had stayed. He hadn't even been sure it was something he was capable of. Now, though…

Now he didn't know.

And how could he keep doing it if he didn't know? If he didn't know, for sure, that Naruto would always be safe, then—how could he do it at all? Out of selfish, desperate need to be as close to him as he could get? Was he really so—

A small sound rang out from his bed, and Sasuke lifted his head to tiredly stare at the phone. His resolve was wavering. It had been every day. Ripping himself away from Naruto had felt like ripping off a limb, and he...he just...

"Sasuke."

"Oh thank god."

Sasuke blinked.

"You—what?"

"Listen," Naruto said, sounding out of breath, "well I—first off, I've really wanted to apologize for all the vampire bullshit I keep putting you through, but I'm gonna have to apologize again because I really need it right now."

Sasuke sat up straighter.

"What?" he asked again. Naruto had wanted to apologize? But Sasuke was the one who—

"I'm at the shop, and some asshole tree just fell over and cut our power. I was just checking on how the animals were doing with the storm and—well, basically Dia escaped again and I can't see shit. Please help? My phone's about to die and it's the only flashlight I have."

"You—you're locked in your store with a cat on the loose?"

"It's not—okay, it is as pathetic as it sounds. I think she's under the shelves but I can't see and if I knock one down, I—just—listen, if you come, you can absolutely ruin me, okay? Make fun of me as much as you want—I'll text you the addre—hell, I'll pay you, if you—"

"Moron," Sasuke cut him off. "I'm not going to ask for money for doing you a favour."

"Oh, I—you'll—you'll actually come then?"

"...Yes. You're desperate, aren't you?"

"Well I—yeah, but—" a pause, "I didn't even really expect you to pick up the phone, to be honest..."

Naruto's nervous laugh trailed off.

It felt like a punch in the gut.

"Give me a while to navigate the storm."

"Oh, yeah, of course—don't come if it's not safe, okay? I—"

"I'm coming."

Sasuke hung up.

Naruto could have kissed the drenched, soggy mess that came tumbling in a half hour later. He didn't—but he could have.

He settled for running over to the doors, waving Sasuke in with the only helpful thing he'd managed to find: a towel.

"Thank you," Sasuke said, right about the same time Naruto blurted out, "I'm sorry—"

They stopped and stared at each other. Naruto figured that Sasuke's glowing red eyes did a much better job of scanning his face than Naruto's did.

"I, um," Naruto started—

"You are the strangest person on the face of the earth. What have you been apologizing for?"

Naruto blinked.

"Well, I—" he said, shuffling back, "I keep, y'know, bringing up the whole vampire thing and asking you questions and acting like it's all cool, even though I know you hate it all. I thought that—"

"So you're apologizing for making something good out of my shitty situation? You demon."

Naruto paused.

"Well, no, that's not—" Naruto let out a breath. "If that's—why have you been avoiding me, then? Did I do something else?"

"I haven't been avoiding you."

Naruto crossed his arms. Sasuke's glowing eyes stayed stubbornly looking away.

"O...kay, what's your actual reason for skipping class and ghosting me then? I told Iruka we broke up, by the way."

"I needed—" Sasuke's eyes snapped back to him, "you—what? Why?"

For his own sanity, that was why, but he couldn't tell Sasuke that.

"Well you—" Naruto started, "I—uh—"

"Oh," Sasuke said, and it sounded hurt. "If you were uncomfortable with—giving me blood, you could have said so at any point. I can find other—"

"No!" Naruto said quickly, stepping forwards. "No, no, no—that's not it at all. I just thought—I thought that I was, um, too comfortable with it."

There was a pause.

"Too comfortable," Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto nodded.

Sasuke's eyes squinted at him.

"See, this is what I mean!" Naruto said, throwing his hands up in the air. "It bothers you, so it should bother me but it doesn't and that's—"

Naruto let out a frustrated breath, trying to find the words that weren't, 'hey, I've got a hot air balloon of a crush on you and every time you come near me you're lighting a flame that's sending me into the fucking clouds—'

"—that's why I'm sorry," he finished finally.

There was a pause.

Naruto was the one that didn't meet Sasuke's eyes, this time.

"Why would I want it to bother you?" came Sasuke's voice, barely audible over the howling wind outside. "You're the only person it doesn't."

Naruto looked up.

"I'm the only person you've told," he pointed out.

"If attacking you counts as telling," Sasuke said, "no. You're not."

Naruto let out a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Are you really not mad? I thought…"

"No. I needed some time. There are certain things I can't trust myself with and you are one of them."

Naruto was more than a little resigned at the way those words made his heart skip a beat.

"Fucking hell," he said, leaning against the door. "Warn me next time, would you? I get that you gotta do what you gotta do but I don't know where you are half the time or where to find you—if you just disappeared one day, I would have no idea if—"

Naruto cut himself off, looking away. He could still see the red from the corner of his eye.

"You were worried?"

Naruto let out a breath.

"Come on, Sasuke," he said quietly. "I'm not the only person with a knife on their keychain."

Sasuke breathed in.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't…"

"It's not—" Naruto said quickly, the guilt on Sasuke's face easily cutting through the dark, "I didn't think—I mean it hadn't been that long and I thought you were kinda mad at me so I wasn't, like, fully freaking out yet or anything, but if you need space, y'know, in the future—"

"I'll tell you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's really—I dunno what I'm gonna tell dad," Naruto laughed a little, "but, um, anyway. Help me find Dia?"

"She's under the shelves over there."

"I knew it! That—"

"Here," Sasuke said, and a hard plastic was pressed into his hand—Sasuke's phone? Why— "If you need the light."

Sasuke turned away.

"Thanks," Naruto said, fiddling with the thing. "Okay, I'll—are you making kissing noises?"

"That's what cats—"

"Mrow..."

Naruto froze. Sasuke threw him a look that very easily said 'I told you so'.

"How did she even get in here, anyway?"

"Oh, the, uh," Naruto said, surreptitiously flicking the flashlight on so he could actually see what the hell Sasuke was pulling off here, "that's the shelter we're connected to. Like right over there—I left the door open like a dumbass."

Sasuke snorted, crouching low to the ground.

"She shouldn't've gotten out, though. I swear, it's like every time I go in there...oh, uh, sorry, do you want me to—like, wrap around the side? She might run towards you if I…"

"I'm not going to chase her," Sasuke said. "Does she respond to Dia?"

"Not really," Naruto said, crouching down beside him. He tilted the flashlight up a little—and there she was. Huddled and wary, watching them with wide eyes that reflected the light— "Aw, sweetheart. I didn't mean to scare you…"

"I'm sure the storm isn't helping matters," Sasuke said quietly, slipping onto his side to reach his arm out—

Dia flinched back, and Sasuke paused.

"Standoff," Naruto muttered quietly. Sasuke threw him a vaguely amused look and gently tapped his fingers along the floor.

Dia's eyes zeroed in on them.

"She might bite your hand," Naruto warned.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Sasuke muttered, circling his tapping fingers around—Dia's tail flicked once—twice—

"Ow."

Naruto burst into quiet, stifled laughter, doing his best not to scare the cat gnawing on Sasuke's hand as he pulled it back towards himself, slowly, smoothly—

The thunder boomed, and Dia froze.

Sasuke made another kissing noise. Naruto glanced over at him and pressed his lips together tight, because Dia's ears had twitched at the sound—

Sasuke reached his fingers out, and Dia slowly lowered her head to sniff at them.

"Dia," Sasuke beckoned, calm and gentle and aw, another kissing noise—

"Prrt?"

Naruto glanced back, surprised at the happy noise—it was the first time he'd heard her make—

"There she is," Sasuke breathed out, pulling out a purring, happy cat who had latched herself onto his arm.

"Nice," Naruto whispered, shuffling closer as Dia rubbed her face all over Sasuke's hand. "Sasuke—you're the best."

Sasuke's smile widened. Naruto watched as Dia's eyes closed happily as Sasuke scratched under her chin.

"Oh," Naruto said, eyes flickering back and forth between them, "you...how much do you, um, know about cats?"

Sasuke paused, glancing at Naruto for a moment before he lifted his hand up and snapped his fingers.

Dia hopped onto her back legs and headbutted the palm of his waiting hand.

Naruto gaped.

"Oh my god," he whispered, ducking forwards, "Sas—what! How d'you do that?!"

Sasuke laughed softly, letting Dia catch his hand with her paws—pulling it to her to rub her face on it again.

"I…" Sasuke let out a breath. "I need that hand if you want it to pet you…"

Oh man. Right in the heart.

"She's getting her scent all over you," Naruto said, just about melting onto the floor.

"She's…" Sasuke trailed off, running a hand along her back as she wandered over his lap again. "Did you want up?"

Dia hopped up onto his shoulder, pawing up at it for a moment before she clawed her way behind Sasuke's neck. Naruto watched, smile as wide as his eyes as Sasuke stood, cat wrapped around his shoulders like a goddamn feather boa—

"I think I'm dreaming," Naruto said, shaking his head. "This makes up for the whole damn week—you must have had a cat or something, huh?"

He laughed out his relief, but it faltered as soon as Sasuke looked back at him.

"Here," he said softly, untangling her from his shoulders, "take her."

Naruto obeyed. Dia only meowed twice, that time, which was a bit of an improvement, but her claw caught the edge of Sasuke's still-wet jacket—

"The last time I bit you," Sasuke said, looking down, "the mark stayed."

Naruto paused, midway through trying to detangle Dia's claw.

"Only for a second," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke's eyes flickered up to his, and they looked—

"I didn't know that."

—scared.

"You didn't know that," Sasuke continued. "Until I managed to heal you, I thought—"

"Oh," Naruto said, sucking in the word, "oh. You thought you—"

"Do you understand?"

He did. He did. Sasuke freaking out made a lot more sense, now.

But that didn't mean Naruto agreed with the whole damn thing.

"You can't keep running every time you scare yourself," Naruto said, pulling Dia's claw free.

"Naruto, I—"

"I get it, okay?" He said, adjusting the cat as she complained again. "I get it. You're dangerous. You're a risk. It's all a risk, and it's my choice to take it or not."

Sasuke stared at him.

"It's my choice. Stop trying to make it for me," Naruto told him. "It's my choice."

Sasuke didn't reply. He didn't move, either. In fact, he barely blinked at all...

"'Course," Naruto said, shuffling back, "it's your choice to keep being friends with me or whatever. I won't try to make that for you. I'm gonna put Dia back."

Feeling that weight in his heart again, he turned around. This past week—and a bit, a bit over a week now—had just...sucked. Sasuke had dropped him like it was nothing. And he knew, now, obviously, that it hadn't been nothing, but that didn't change the fact that he'd felt stupid and helpless and something close to abando—

Sasuke grabbed the back of his sleeve.

Naruto gently, slowly turned around. Dia clawed her way over until Naruto adjusted her so that she could see Sasuke properly.

Hah. She almost liked Sasuke as much as Naruto did.

"You don't," Sasuke started, lightning intermittently illuminating the side of his face, "have to put her back yet."

Naruto blinked.

"I mean," Sasuke said, looking even more nervous, "it's still raining—you shouldn't go out there, if—it seems worse than before, really, so—we could—if we're here anyway—"

Naruto's smile slowly widened.

"Come on," he said, gesturing towards the other building, "there's toys in the shelter."

A/N: And they're back! A bit more Dia, a bit more communication - I hope you liked it all! Lots more fun stuff to come.

See you tomorrow,

- Kinomi